1 Month and Three Years!

Hooray for December and for surviving our first month with two kiddos!  I may have nursed one or two (maybe half a dozen?) times in the bathroom to supervise Atticus, but we did it.

Things are still pretty warm in our neck of the woods, but that hasn't stopped Atticus hoping that Frosty the Snowman will come and play at our house.  He is SO excited about Santa and Christmas.  He was so darling, running around when we pulled out the Christmas decorations.  We put lights on the tree and he was saying,  "It's so beautiful!"  He is a very eager helper and we are working on being patient as we decorate, ha ha.

As we suspected, Atticus had some setbacks when it came to potty training.  They were delayed, but they came.  One was particularly gross, but most have been mild and easy to clean up, thank heavens.  And we're not out of the woods.  He does still get distracted, like many toddlers, and has the occasional accident.  But he's really done with diapers.  We were using them for naps, but there's really no need.  Night's a different story (although he was completely dry 3 mornings in a row! didn't last...)  I have to admit, I feel like we dodged a bullet when it comes to potty training.  I've heard horror stories and that seems to not be Atticus's problem.  We're knocking on wood that the same can be true when it's Hinckley's turn!

 Hinckley is adorable.  He LOVES to be swaddled (Atticus hated it!), snuggled and HELD (he'll sleep 3-4 hours if someone's holding him).  We love the low grumbles of complaint he makes if we move him once he's asleep.  He especially loves Dane (who has a Valium-like effect on the little guy) and it is a joy to see him with his big brother.

 He is growing way too quickly- averaging 2 ounces a day and was an even 10 lbs at his 4 week doctor visit.  He went from being in the 17th percentile to the 55th, ha ha!  (He grew two more inches, too!)  We love his spare tire belly, his epic (sometimes T-rex like!) burps, his coos, his teeny feet and hands (with long fingers and toes), and the small, subtle ways he differs from Atticus already (darker hair, darker eyes, and the ears close to his head are a dead give away.)

He's still eating at least every two hours during the day and managing 1 or 2 three-hour spells at night.  We've had some rougher nights and he has more gas than Atticus but, overall, it's so much easier than our first parenting experience!

A highlight for the month was Thanksgiving.  Boy, was it wonderful to have Bobba and Nana drive down for a week.  They served their hearts out.  When they weren't helping with one of the boys they were helping clean or cook.  What a great team (especially when it came to cooking Thanksgiving dinner!)  It's always hard to see them go.

Here he is washing Bobba's truck.  He had to stand in a corner so the water pressure didn't make him fall over. 

 Other than Nana and Bobba's weeklong visit, things have been pretty straightforward.  We just tried to adjust to having two kids in the home.  We are still loving joy school, park visits and definitely watched more shows and read more books than usual.

Here he is watching one of his "shows."  He gets so involved in them!

Joy School Shenanigans.  It made me laugh when we were at storytime at an indoor playground facility.  Atticus had to sit right next to the employee and kept commenting, "I have this book!"  He surprised her when he said, "I love the reindeer!" and she said, "What reindeer?"  When she turned the page she said, "There's the reindeer!"   That's my boy.

The very last thing we did this month was celebrate Atticus's 3rd birthday.  We had a superhero party, complete with superhero leaping, superhero music relays, pin the spiderman on the web and an obstacle course where they needed to get the bad guys to the police station.   Food included Spiderman cheese, Captain America fruit (thanks to our sweet neighbor, Amanda!), superhero suckers (with capes and masks!) and Batman cupcakes, as well as other, ordinary fare.  I'm happy to report that we kept our Pinterest-fail count relatively low!

  

Though he didn't lack enthusiasm, our littlest superhero was beat by the end!

 

Last, but not least, the kids got to shoot a real, live "bad guy" with "webs" and tie him up.

This last part was definitely my favorite.   Dane made a really great bad guy.  

We had 6 kiddos come: Isaiah, Elijah, Zeke, Skye, Islay and Bowman.  I wanted to invite more but he was only turning 3 (and I broke my mom's rule- one kiddo per year old.  Oops!)  They were all so well-behaved!-  Except our little guy, of course.  There were more than a few tears shed going from activity to activity.  The birthday boy had a hard time when things didn't go his way or in the order he would have liked.  But we were able to get past them just about every time and he only had to be spanked once.  Ugh.

All the same, I would call it a success.

Atticusisms from the month:

• "We poop in the potty and we don't eat it."  "We do not eat poop.  That's gross."
• "I'm going to hit/throw a rock at you/it and you'll/it will exploded!" (often said in anger or while telling stories with scary characters)
• "I love you forever." (said to Bobba)
• "I love you so much, and I love Nana so much, and I love Daddy so much, and I love Mommy so much."
• "I'm just checking on my baby."
• "No, I will _________" (whatever Mommy has just said she is about to do)
• "Don't wake up, Nana!" (as he climbed into bed with her early one morning)
• "I'm making a dinosaur toy."  This is his new cop-out reply when asked something he doesn't want to answer.

"I'm gonna burn this down!"